Electromechanical stop motion for looms



Dec. 24, 1940. G BAHAN ELECTROMECHANICAL STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed Aug. 21, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 (Ittorncg Dec. 24, 1940. G. F. BAHAN 2,225,276

ELECTROMECHANICAL STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS I Filed Aug. 21, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 G BAP/AN attoruegi Dec. 24, 1940. a F BAHAN 2,226,276

ELEC TROMECHANICAL STOP MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed Aug. 21, 1939 I5 Sheets-Sheet S 9 Fa Q5 #5 Q6 ,0 6 I IQO I 26 a 23 24 23 m #3 GEORGE" E' BAHAN Zsnnentor attorney Patented Dec.24, 1940 I r 2522 275 UNITED STATES P T E L QF J Application August 21, 1939, Serial 15101291334:

' '7Claims. "(o1.1s9 '355) J f 11;]

This invention relates to an electro-mechanical experience and tests carried out upon the present stop motion for looms and more especially to a invention, it has been found that there'is less fly, stop motionof this type which is associated with less warp breaks per loo'm per "day, less seconds, the heddles through which the warp ends pass. increased" production, reduced costs, less loom These heddles are mounted in loom harnesses parts to take'care'of, better face on the fabric, which are reciprocatedup and down to form greater leverage on:yarns, and a quicker stop sheds through which the shuttle is adapted to upon the breakage of a war-p end. pass when the cloth is woven. Someof 'the' objects 'of'the invention having In the present invention, eachloom harness, been stated,'other objectswill appear as the dem when down, is disposed in 'an electrical circuit, scription proceeds when' tak'en inconnection with but this circuitlis not c losed until a warp 'bethe accompanying drawings, in whichcomes broken; or slack enough to allow its asso- Figure 1 'is a side" elevation of portions of a ciated heddle to drop; Up'on'the dropping of a loom showing certain portions thereof in section heddle and the closing of a circuit, a magnet is with my improved'stop motion associated thereenergized which, in turn, actuates a suitable with; 1 1 15 mechanism to stop the loom. H Figure 2 is a sectional" view taken alongthe Heretofore, devices of this type have been'made line 2-4 in Figure '1 showing a heddle frame and to perform the above-named result, such as warp stabilizing 'meansw'ith the central portions shown in my Patent No. 1,999,623 of April 30th, thereof broken away; I

1935, but great difiiculty has been encountered Figure3'is a'ver'tical sectional view taken along 20 due to warp vibration or'to loose ends in the the line3-'3 in Figure'2g- Warp which allowed the heddles to drop and Figure 4' is a sectional view similar to a portion make unnecessary] electrical contacts. When of Figure3 butshowing the position of a heddle these contacts were made the loom would stop upon the" breakage of its associated warp-end.

unnecessarily, thereby necessitating the operator hunting for broken ends which did not exist. modified form of the invention in which a roller It is, therefore, an object of this invention to is employed for stabilizing thelowermost shed providean electro-mechanical stop motion coninstead'of a barj' trolled by the heddles in the'loom harnesses, in Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the combination with a stabilizing rod for engaging line 6 -6 in Figure 5'. 30 the lowermost shed of the warp so that objection- Referring more specifically to the drawings, the able vibration of the ends will be eliminated and numeral lfl'denotes'th'e side'frames of a'loom in so that the heddles through which these ends which is mounted for oscillation a'rocker'shaft pass will be held upwardly out of electrical mm H, said rocker shaft having fixedly secured tact except when an'end becomes broken. Also thereon upwardly extending swords I2. The 35 the slack warp ends and their associated heddles swords I2 support a lay *I4 on the upper ends will be held upwardly to prevent an unwarranted thereof and thislayhas a suitable reed Hi thereelectrical contact from being made. I in, through'which warp shedsi I1 and I8 pass.

It is another object of this invention to provide The warp sheds I! .and ['8 are drawn frorna. suit- 4 an electro-mechanical stop motion of the class able 'leto'ff' beam 19 which'is rotatably mounted described in combination with a resiliently between the side frames Ill; The warp sheds 11 mounted roller for supporting the lowermost 'shed and I8 pass from this beam ,over rod 20, roller and for holding the heddles in the shed out of 2|, and. throughheddles 22 and 23' of heddle electrical contact. This resiliently mounted rollframes. 24 and 25 respectively. During the nor- '5 er prevents chafing when the yarn strikes the mal operation of the'loom the sheds I1 and I 8 same and also allows the roller to yield to the are reciprocated up anddown'by means of harlower warp shed as it pressed downwardly therenesses 24 and 25, respectively. Simultaneously against. with this-reciprocation the lay i4 is oscillated By providing this combination, it is possible back and forth so that a shuttle, not shown, can

to eliminate the conventional stop motion drop be thrown between the sheds to insert filling 50 wires thereby eliminating considerable friction therethrough and form cloth. in the warp. Anothernimportant result in the The harnesses 24 and 25, are identical, thereelimination of the conventional drop wires is fore, one harness will be described and like refthe simplification of the drawing in process when erence characters given to the other. 'A plurality a new warp is installed in the loom. From actual of additional'harnesses may-be used as desired. 55

"Figurefi 'is a sectional view showing a slightly 25 spectively, which rails are joined together at their ends by metallic pipes 28 and 29. The top rail 26 supports a heddle bar 30, which bar, in turn, is adapted to have the upper end of heddles 22 mounted therearound. The upper end of the heddle 22 has an elongated slot 22a therein through which the heddle bar is inserted. Lower rail 21 supports a similar heddle bar 32 which passes through suitable elongated slots 22b in the lower ends of heddles 22, said heddles 22 having holes 22 c thereinthrough which the warp ends forming the shed I! are drawn. When the shed I7 is in lowermost position, as shown in Figure 3, the ends tend to raise the heddle 22 upwardly so that the heddle bars 30 and 32 will rest in the lower portions of slots 22a and 22b.

In the frame 25, the heddles 23 have similar slots 23a and 23b fitting over heddle bars 30 and 32, and the central portion of each heddle 23 has a hole 230 therein through which ends forming the shed I8 are adapted to pass.

A contact bar 35 is supported by the lower rail 21, the upper side of said bar being disposed a slight distance below the heddle bar 32. This contact bar has a metallic wire 36 leading therefrom downwardly through the rail 21, said wire terminating in a metallic plate 31 on the lower side of the rail. When the harnesses are in lowermost position as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the lower ends of the associated heddles are disposed a slight distance above the contact bar 35, thereby leaving a space therebetween. This gap between the lower end of the heddles and the upper side of the contact bar 35 constitutes a switch and when these heddles are allowed to contact this bar with a harness in lowermost position, the switch is closed, allowing the current to actuate a suitable stopping mechanism on the loom. The parts 35, 36, and 31 constitute a portion of the circuit on one side of the switch. A portion of the circuit on the other side of the switch comprises the heddles 22 or 23, heddle bars 30 and 32, and end pipes 28 and 29, all of said members being made of a suitable conductive material. The end pipe 29 has a vertically disposed rod 40 slidably mounted therein. The upper end of this rod has nuts 4| threadably secured thereon and its lower end has an enlarged head portion 42 which serves to confine a suitable compression spring 43 around the rod 46 at a location between this head portion and the lowermost rail 21. This head portion 42 also serves to contact an inclined metallic plate which is secured to the upper side of a suitable insulating block 46, said block being secured to a stand 41 and being shown in the form of a wooden block. It is secured in position by any suitable means such as bolts 48. A wire 50 is secured to the contact plate 45 as at 5|, said wire having its other end connected to one side of a magnet 53. This magnet has a wire 54 leading from the other side thereof which wire is also secured to a terminal 55 of a suitable source of power such as storage battery 56. A bar 51 leads from the other side of battery 56, one end of said bar being connected to terminal 58 of the battery and its other end grounded as at 59 to the loom frame. When a harness is in lowermost position it is seen that the current can flow from the battery 56 through wire 54, magnet 53,v wire 50, bar 45, head portion 42, wire 46, end piece 29, heddle bars 30 and 32, and heddles 22. If an end in the warp sheds I1 happens to break in the manner as shown in Figure 4 then the associated heddle 22 will be allowed to drop to close the circuit and allow the current to also flow through bar 35, wire 36 and plate 31. From the plate 31 the current will pass through a bar 60 which is secured to the upper side of a Wooden block 6|. This wooden block has suitable bolts 62 extending downwardly therefrom, and these bolts slidably penetrate the upper portion of stand 41. A compression spring 63 is disposed around each bolt 62 between the block 6| and the stand 4! so that when a harness 22 or 23 moves downwardly against the contact plate 60, there will be a yielding action on the part of the block 6!. Nuts 65 are threadably secured on the lower ends of bolts 62 for adjusting the amount of compression in the spring 63 as well as for adjusting the height of the bar 60. The spring 43 (Figures 1 and 2) which is disposed between the head portion 42 and the lower rail 21 is provided for a similar reason, that is, it allows a yielding action to take place between the conductive bar 45 and the harness When said harness moves downwardly to make contact with the contact bars.

A wire 10 leads from the conductive bar 60 as at 69 said wire having its' other end secured to the loom frame as at H. Should an end break in the manner shown in Figure 4, a heddle 22 or 23 would be allowed to drop downwardly upon the contact bar 35. Then when the harness moves to lowermost position as shown in Figures 2 and 4, the previously described circuit is closed at the three essential points, namely, between the heddle bars 22 or 23 and the contact bar 35, between the conductive bar 60 and the plate 31 on the bottom portion of rail 21 and between the head portion 42 and the conductive plate 45. This will allow the current to flow from the source of power 56 to energize the magnet 53 and to cause the stop motion mechanism hereinafter to be described to be operated.

A soft iron lever (Figure 1) 15 is pivoted intermediate its ends as at 16 said lever having the right hand end thereof normally disposed a slight distance above the end of magnet 53. The left-hand end of this lever has a vertically disposed link 11 connected thereto, the upper end of which is secured to the horizontal leg of a bell crank 18. This bell crank is pivoted as at 19 and its vertical leg is adapted to fit under the left-hand end of an inverted T- shaped member 80. This lever is pivoted as at 8i and has a suitable spring 82 disposed beneath its other horizontal leg. Also disposed in this other horizontal leg and above the spring 82 is a set screw 83, the upper end of which supports the free end of a lever 85. Lever 85 is pivoted as at 86 to the lower leg of knock-off lever 81 said knock-off lever being pivoted as at 88 to the 100m frame It). The lay 24 has a dog 89 secured to the lower side thereof. The end of this dog projects lat erally and has a V-shaped notch 90 in the end thereof which fits the pointed end of lever 85 when the two parts come into contact with each other. In normal operation, this V-shaped notch does not contact the free end of lever 85, but when the magnet 53 is energized, due to the breaking of an end, and the falling of a heddle 22 or 23, the right hand end of lever 15 is rotated in a clockwise manner (Figure 1) to cause the link 11 to move upwardly and also to cause the bell crank 18 to rotate in a counter-clockwise manner. This rotation will allow the upper end of the vertical leg of the bell crank to move into notch 80a in the lower side of the lever 80, and thereby allow a slight counterclockwise rotation of this lever due to the upward pressure exerted by compression spring 82. When this is done the set screw 83 will be moved upwardly to also push the free end of lever 85 upwardly so that it will be disposed in the path of dog 89. Whenthe free end of the lever B5'is in this position and upon the next oscillation of the lay of the loom, the dog 89 will engage this lever thereby rotating the knock off lever 81 in a counter-clockwise direction about pivot 88, to actuate suitable mechanism, not shown, for. stopping the loom. A part of this loom stopping mechanism comprises shipper lever 9I. As heretofore stated, great difiiculty has been encountered with vibrating warps, and in warps having slack ends therein, these slack ends will cause the circuit to be closed and the loom to be stopped when there are no ends actually broken. In order to eliminate this false alarm feature, a suitable stabilizing rod 95 has been provided and. this rod is disposed transversely of the warp ends directly below the sheds. The rod is positioned at such an elevation that the lowermost shed will always be supported to cause the heddles 22 and 23 to be held upwardly out of contact with the contact bar 35 except when an end is broken. The ends of the stabilization rod 95 are slidab-ly mounted around suitable bolts 96, said bolts being secured to horizontally disposed arms 91 extending from the side frames I of the loom. The members 91 have suitable holes 98 therein which are penetrated by bolts 99 to secure these members to the side frames of the loom. By providing the holes 98 an adjustment of the horizontal distance between the rod 95 and the harnesses can be made.

Disposed below the ends of stabilization rod 95 and around the bolts 96 is a compression spring I00 which normally urges the rod upwardly. Also disposed around these same bolts 96 and above the rod 95 is a second spring IOI which merely serves as a check to prevent the bar from moving upwardly too far when the downward pressure of the lowermost shed is suddenly released. This added feature serves to stabilize the warp and prevent vibration of the individual ends, and also serves to give the necessary support to the slack ends toprevent their associated heddles from makinga contact except when the ends are broken.

Figures and 6 show a slightly modified form of the invention in which the stabilization rod 95 is replaced by a roller I05. Each end of the roller I05 has a restricted portion I06 which rotatably penetrates a block I0I as well as slots I08 and I09 in opposed sides of a suitable pipe III). A compression spring III is disposed below the block I01, said spring being confined in the pipe by means of a plug II2 which is threadably secured in the lower endthereof. The upper side of the block I01 has a compression spring I I I resting thereon which acts as a check to prevent the block I01 and the roller I05 from bouncing upwardly an objectionable amount upon the release of the warp pressure, during the operation of the loom. This spring H4 is confined within the pipe I I0 by means of a suitable cotter pin H5.

The pipe H0 is exteriorly threaded near its upper end. This pipe penetrates the outstanding leg of a suitable angle member I", said angle member being secured to the side frame of the loom I0 bymeans of bolt II8. Nuts I20 and I2I are threadably secured around the upper end of the pipe I I0 above and below the outstanding leg of the angle 1, so that the pipe will be rigidly secured to the angle member. The rod or roller I05 functions substantially the same as the bar 95, except that the roller is subject to rotation. Therefore, when the shed engages this roller upon its downward motion, there will be no chafing of the yarn because the roller can adjust itself to the sliding action of the shed.

- It is thus seen that when a heddle frame is lowered, the weight of the warp and the heddles carrying those threads having normal tension therein will move the rod 95 or I05 downwardly, whereas the warp threads having sub-normal tension therein will not exert this effect, and thus will tend to equalize the position of all of the warp threads. This will support the subnormal -warp threads and prevent the heddles carried thereby from closing the circuit. Also it is seen that if the heddle frame is raised that the bar 95 or I05 will move upwardly, thus raising the subnormal warp threads and thus preventing these low-tensioned warp threads from being left behind to close the circuit by the dropping of a heddle.

In the drawings and specification there hasbeen set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms have been employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom having a stop motion and a plurality of vertically reciprocating harness frames having vertically movable metallic heddles therein, normally held in elevated position by the tension of the warp in a loom when a harness frame is in lowered position, and upon the failure of being sustained by the warp. closing an electrical circuit by downward movement to operate the stop motion of the loom, a rod disposed transversely of and below the warp threads and being disposed a substantial distance from the harness frames, resilient means engaging each end of the rod for movably supporting the same, said rod being engageable and movable downwardly by the warp upon the lowering of a harness frame to prevent heddles having loose unbroken warp ends therein from closing said circuit.

2. A warp stop motion for looms comprising a control circuit for setting in operation the stopping mechanism, a series of vertically reciprocating harness frames, terminals carried by each frame, means to include said terminals in the controlling circuit when a frame is in its lowered position, a series of metallic heddles in each harness frame and normally maintained inoperative by their warp threads when the frame is down, breakage of a warp thread re-v leasing its heddle and causing closure of the control circuit through the terminals in the frame while said terminals are in circuit, a rod'disposed transversely of and below the warp thread and being disposed a substantial distance from the harness frames, resilient means for supporting the ends of the rod, said rod being adapted to be engaged by the warp threads and movable downwardly by the warp threads when a harness frame is lowered, for preventing unbroken warp threads having subnormal tension therein from allowing the heddles carried by said threads having subnormal tension therein from closing the circuit.

3. A Warp stop motion for looms comprising a control circuit for setting in operation the warp stop motion, a plurality of harness frames each having a series of metallic heddles, terminals carried by the frames and adapted to be electrically connected by a heddle when released by parting or subnormal tension of its warp thread, contact terminals remote from the frames and engageable by the terminals carried by a frame when a harness frame is at or near its lowest position, a rod extending transversely of the loom and being disposed a substantial distance from the harness frame, resilient means for supporting the ends of the rod, said rod being adapted to be engaged by the warp threads and movable downwardly by the warp threads when a harness frame is lowered, for prevent ing' unbroken warp ends having subnormal tension therein from allowing the heddles carried thereby to close sald controlling circuit.

4. A warp stop motion for looms comprising a controlling circuit for setting in operation the stopping mechanism, a plurality of harness frames each having a series of metallic heddles, terminals carried by the frames and adapted to be electrically connected by a heddle when released by parting or subnormal tension of its warp thread, contact members on the outside of the frames and connected with said terminals, a pair of fixed contact members in the controlling circuit and adapted to be engaged by said contact members on the harness frames when a harness frame is in lowermost position, a rigid member, spring mounted means for supporting the ends of the rigid member, said rigid member being disposed transversely of the loom and being adapted to be engaged and moved downwardly by the normally tensioned lowermost warp threads supporting the heddles in a harness frame when the harness frame is in its lowest position, said rigid member serving to support the warp threads and prevent unbroken warp threads having subnormal tension therein from allowing the heddles carried thereby to move downwardly far enough to close said circuit.

5. In a loom having a stop motion mechanism and a plurality of harness frames mounted for vertical reciprocatory movement in the loom, a plurality of vertically movable metallic heddles carried by each harness frame, an electric circuit for the stop motion means carried by the loom and heddle frames for completing an electric circuit to the stop motion by the falling of a heddle in a harness frame when unsupported by its warp end, a rod disposed transversely of the loom below the lowermost'warp threads for engaging the warp threads in a lowered harness frame and supporting the same to prevent the heddles carried by unbroken warp threads having subnormal tension from falling downwardly sufficiently to close the stop motion circuit, and spring means for supporting the ends of the rod.

6. In a loom having a stop motion and a stop motion circuit, a plurality of vertically reciprocable harness frames having metallic heddles therein supported by the warp threads when the harness frames are moved to lowermost position, means carried by the loom and each harness frame for completing the stop motion circuit through said heddles when the heddle falls downwardly in its harness frame when unsupported by a warp thread, a bar extendng transversely of the loom and below the Warp threads for supporting the warp threads when a harness frame is moved to its lowermost position, to prevent the heddles carried 'by unbroken warp threads having subnormal tension therein from falling downwardly sufficiently to close the stop motion circuit, and spring means for supporting the ends of the bar.

7 In a loomv having a stop motion mechanism adapted to be energized by the dropping of a heddle in a harness frame, a rod disposed transversely of the loom and below the warp and being a substantial distance from the harness frames, spring means for supporting the ends of the rod, said rod being adapted to be engaged by the warp in a lowered harness frame and to be moved downwardly by the weight of the Warp and the heddles carried by the warp whereby the warp threads having normal tension therein will exert pressure for moving the rod downwardly and will thus equalize the position of the warp threads having subnormal tension therein and will thus prevent the heddles carried by the last-named warp threads from allowing the heddles carried thereby to lower asuflicient amount to close the stop motion circuit.

GEORGE F. BAHAN. 

